Thoughts and questions regarding just about everything while taking a daily stroll with my dog.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Why Are We So Full Of Hate?

What has happened to human kind? No matter where you look we find ourselves surrounded by a world filled with hate.

What puzzles me is how it's combined with political correctness. Take this country where so many words are now frowned upon and even forbidden because they are hurtful to certain people. Redskins, squaw, savage plus a whole lot applying to Blacks, Orientals and Hispanics not to mention Middle Easterners. Has it dawned on anyone banning the names has done nothing to diminish the hate that suggested such names derogatory in the first place?

We still have racism in this country. The President and the Attorney General are among the first to remind us. Because we want our borders secure we hate children and Hispanics. Because we take a stand for first amendment rights we hate women. Because we condemn terrorist groups we hate Muslims. They hate Christians. Everyone still hates the Jews. Among the most vocal of late are the Germans of all people!

I think about the lyrics of You've Got to Be Carefully Taught from South Pacific

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

We have been carefully taught, by power mongers and despots from the beginning of time. Have we made progress? Little, I'd say. Why? I think a lot of it comes from embedded fear of everything different and unfamiliar. What we don't understand we fear and our protective mechanism is hate.

When people in power grasp this notion far too often they push to perpetuate it for their own ends rather than to quell it for the peaceful ends of all involved.

It's a very ugly world. Words and names aren't the problem. It's the people who twist them. Until we can look beyond millenniums of cultural differences and have the courage to think for ourselves, not take the lazy way out and accept the unacceptable, things will not change. We as a country once had that courage. We could see beyond color and ethnicity and religion. We could see the power of good.

Can we ever regain that greatness? Only if we field leaders who love their country above themselves and their ambitions. Real peace can only come if we can learn to like one another. Tolerating one another is only a truce. And history shows us truces are usually broken.